Kyle Petty Shuts Down Claims That Shane Van Gisbergen Is the ‘GOAT of NASCAR Road Course Racing’

Kyle Petty refused to call Shane van Gisbergen the greatest road course racer in NASCAR history and explains his reasons for it.

Kyle Petty Shuts Down Claims That Shane Van Gisbergen Is the ‘GOAT of NASCAR Road Course Racing’

Shane van Gisbergen and Kyle Petty (Via IMAGO)

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Trackhouse Racing’s Shane van Gisbergen is the happiest driver on the garage at the moment, as the rookie became the fourth driver this season to secure three race wins in 2025. He won three road courses with dominant runs, with the most recent victory coming at Sonoma last Sunday, where he got the best of Chase Briscoe.

Shane van Gisbergen has four Cup Series race wins to his name at the moment, all of which at no-oval tracks and for Trackhouse. His wins are not products of lucky breaks, but clear domination the whole weekend starting from the practice session. Many in the community is calling him the greatest road course racer NASCAR has ever seen. But ex-racer Kyle Petty isn’t buying these claims.

In the latest video shared on NASCAR’s YouTube channel, Kyle Petty assessed Sunday’s race and declared that the veteran is the greatest road course racer at the moment. He then highlighted legendary drivers like Dan Gurney, Tim Richmond, AJ Allmendinger as well as Marcos Ambrose, who performer on the same level as SVG in different time period of the sport.

He is the greatest of the moment in road racing. We can’t say anything else. Let’s go all the way back to the 60s. Dan Gurney came into the sport and showed people how to run the road courses. Then along comes Tim Richmond. Then along comes AJ Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose.

Kyle Petty said via NASCAR on YouTube.

Richard Petty’s son pointed out that SVG, since his debut race has raised the bar for the road course stars and has established himself as one of the drivers to beat. He then slammed personals in the community that is throwing in the greatest ever tag, highlighting that word is being used too much and asserted that he hasn’t seen enough to join that group.

Now we have SVG. And he has raised the bar. That’s all he’s done right now. Greatest of all time? We use the word great way too much. I’m going to call him the greatest of the moment. That’s where I’m going to stay with it.

Kyle Petty added.

Shane van Gisbergen has ruined the playoff dreams of many ringers

The dominant win of Shane van Gisbergen has changed the playoff dynamic a lot and will benefit the big teams. The road courses have often been the wild card races the mid-field as well as the back markers teams banks on these races to secure a race win that could earn them playoff promotion, alongside a bigger bag from the prize pool.

Shane van Gisbergen wins at Sonoma
Shane van Gisbergen wins at Sonoma (Via @TeamTrackhouse and @RaceSonoma/X)

The drivers in question are Michael McDowell, AJ Allmendinger, Ty Gibbs, Carson Hocevar and even SVG’s Trackhouse teammate Daniel Suarez, all of could have secured the win if the Kiwi wasn’t racing. Since he has “stolen” these wins, the driver in question has to work on extra hard on the six races left in the season.

In the six races left in the regular season, the only road course left is Watkins Glen, where this driver has a shot at win, given SVG doesn’t perform on the same level or one of the drives from the big team that has won already gets into the victory lane. But if they can’t win that race on August 10, their fates are sealed.

Another opportunity they will have is the regular season finale at Daytona, which is a wild card race. But they won’t have the advantage they get on road course in that event. The races at Richmond, Iowa, Dover and Indianapolis offers the midfield drivers not shot at winning as these tracks are known for underdog wins.

There are a few drivers that are happy with SVG’s performance as well. That include 23XI Racing Tyler Reddick, who is in a good spot to make it into last 16 on points with 149 points lead from the cut-off. The chances of Alex Bowman, Chris Buescher and Bubba Wallace, who are barely hanging on in the last-16, is also increasing with SVG’s dominance.

Also Read: Ryan Blaney Declares Shane Van Gisbergen “Put on a Clinic” at Sonoma